Crafty

Ramones

They didn't "want to be buried in a Pet Sematary" ~ and, of course, they weren't.

Dee Dee (left) and Johnny (right) snapped at H4E on July 16, 2009

Dee Dee Ramone (1951-2002) and Johnny Ramone (1948-2004), founding members of the pioneering punk band The Ramones (1974-1996) are both immortalized at opposite ends of a small lake in the Garden of Legends section at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, CA.

Dee Dee (Douglas Colvin) is actually buried there in a plot marked by a custom black marble headstone featuring the Ramones seal and lyrics from "Highest Trails Above." Johnny (John Cummings) represents with a larger than life sculpted bronze cenotaph. Wife Linda keeps his ashes at home.

Raised in Forest Hills, NY, each man ended up dying in Los Angeles about two years apart -- Dee Dee from an accidental drug overdose and Johnny from prostate cancer. Their respective memorials, however, were completed at around the same time.

It's not publicly known exactly when Dee Dee's headstone was placed because it happened without publicity or fanfare.

Fortunately, Findagrave.com administrator A.J. Marikdocumented the evolution of Dee Dee's final resting place with photographs, beginning with a plastic temporary marker on the fresh grave site (6/25/2002) followed by a cement foundation (1/8/2004) and then the permanent stone on January 5, 2005, nine days prior to Johnny's event.

Scott Michaels also chronicles the process, including additional insights about the lag time, on Findadeath.com.

Kisses for Dee Dee

Who or what inspired Johnny's reported $100,000 cenotaph varies, depending on who is telling the story.

Linda told Fox News that it was a nod to the bronze statue of his favorite actor, John Wayne, located at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA.. Ramones artistic director Arturo Vega told the Los Angeles Times he and Johnny brainstormed about it while watching the funeral of Johnny's favorite president and actor, Ronald Regan. Rob Zombie told the unveiling audience that the 50,000 pound sculpture was the result of suggestion he made to Johnny, in jest, about making a gigantic replica of a smaller version that he owned.

Put it all together and we end up with a very memorable 8 ft. tall memorial, created by FX artist Wayne Toth.

Johnny Bronze-oh!

Ramones lead singer Joey Ramone (Jeff Hyman) passed away in 2001 from lymphatic cancer and is buried next to his dad, Noel, at Hillside Cemetery in Lyndhurst, NJ. The band's video for the title song to the 1989 Stephen King horror film Pet Sematary is now the only place you'll see Joey, Johnny and Dee Dee (with surviving drummer Marky Ramone) together in the same graveyard.

Johnny Ramone has been dead for over four years now, and I am still on a quest to take the perfect photo of his memorial at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Back in November 2008 I attended the 50th memorial service for Tyrone Power at the same graveyard, and in the late afternoon winter sunlight, captured what I feel are some of my favorite images of Johnny en'statue to-date, if I do say so myself. Every season offers a different light to shoot in. You can't beat early winter at Hollywood Forever in my book.

I will never stop trying to capture the beauty of this monument, in every season of light and spotlighted in the dark. It's gorgeous. One can almost hear his music when standing in its presence. The next best thing to Johnny still being with us himself.

By Lisa Burks

Exploring History From The Ground Up!

I enjoy spending time exploring cemeteries, reading and photographing headstones of celebrities and civilians alike, and learning about the lives and deaths of these so-called "permanent residents" of the graveyards and mausoleums. This blog chronicles those experiences.

One of the cemeteries I'm most interested in these days is Grand View Memorial Park in Glendale, Calif. I wrote about its legal problems for the LA Daily News' community hub, ValleyNews.com from August 2006 to December 2008, when Valley News ceased operations. In response to reader requests to have one central source of information, I created and continue to maintain Grand View Memorial Park (dot) Info.

"We've gotten a front-row seat to all the twists and turns
taking place at the beleaguered cemetery, Grand View Memorial Park, from an intrepid citizen journalist named Lisa Burks." ~ Jason Kandel, ValleyNews.com Editor, 12/28/2006